Industrial forklifts or lift trucks are routinely used in industrial and other applications to lift and transport materials from one location to another. The size and shape of the materials and/or crates containing the materials vary depending upon the application for which the forklift is used. In many instances, one size or style forks of the forklift are not properly configured to carry all sizes and shapes of crates or materials without causing damage to the crate or material. In such instances, the forks of the forklift may be replaced or exchanged with other size or style forks. In addition, forks periodically are removed from the forklift for maintenance of the forklift.
Conventional methods of removing and/or replacing the forks of a forklift require the forks to be unlocked and manually manipulated to remove the forks from the carriage assembly of the forklift and to manually carry the forks to a storage area. Due to the relatively large weight of each fork and its relatively unmanageable size and weight distribution, manual handling of the forks by an individual is not only difficult, but is often times unsafe. In addition, forks removed from the forklift are often stored on the ground, on a pile of pallets, etc., which can additionally provide danger to the user. In particular, placing a fork on the floor can cause unwanted back strain while placing a fork on a pile of pallets may lead to an unstable pile of materials that could topple or cause other damage. Therefore, besides being relatively slow, the above procedure of removing or replacing and storing forks often times contributes to injury such as back strain, pinched fingers, injured toes, etc.